Soapbox: City's West Nile virus plan lacks effectiveness

What would you think of a plan to activate our fire response only after a wildfire has consumed two homes? I think we would all prefer that our emergency response begin with the first sight of smoke in the trees or with reports of fire being spotted. Waiting until after the fire has already hit two homes would be too late.

City Council's decision to wait to take action until two people are reported as testing positive for West Nile virus is the same: By the time we have human case reports, the virus has already spread through the community and much of the harm has already been done.

Public health is a difficult balancing act for any community. On one side is the vital goal of preventing disease; sometimes this goal can be at odds with other important personal and community interests, such as individual responsibility and protecting the environment.

As a physician and president of the Board of the Health District of Northern Larimer County, I tend to put more weight on the preventing disease side of the balance. However, as a community member and parent, I want to prevent unnecessary actions that may negatively impact our environment and health.

Ignoring the advice of local and national public health authorities regarding the city's West Nile virus prevention plan, the Fort Collins City Council threw the scales out the window and is creating a plan that fails to proactively fight a deadly disease while permitting pesticide spraying when it will be substantially less beneficial.

Last year, Larimer County led the state and nation in reported human cases of West Nile virus, a dangerous mosquito-spread disease. Severe forms of the disease can cause paralysis, coma, permanent debilitation and death. While severe cases are the most likely to be confirmed and reported, they represent just a fraction of those infected during any given year.

From the time a person is infected by a mosquito bite, it frequently takes more than three weeks for the case to be confirmed and reported to authorities, if it is reported at all. Human cases are a lagging indicator of our community's risk, and requiring them before spraying can be considered takes most of the punch out of measures to knock down adult mosquito populations.

City Council's plan will not prevent the application of pesticides across the city, but it will prevent this action from being most effective. Our community should rely on the recommendations of our local and national public health professionals who clearly advise that spraying should begin before human cases are reported in order to be most effective. By waiting, our neighbors will get sick and possibly die, and the city might still spray.

As a physician and community member, I want the city to help prevent disease and also avoid unnecessary use of pesticides in our neighborhoods. If Fort Collins is to continue to have a plan for citywide spraying for mosquitoes in an emergency, its plan should be one that recognizes the medical, environmental and scientific realities of West Nile virus and serves to prevent its spread.

I encourage our City Council to revisit their decision in their upcoming meeting and remove the human case report requirement from the West Nile virus Management Plan.

Bernard Birnbaum, M.D., is president of the Board of Directors of the Health District of Northern Larimer County.